Pastel plein air in the park

Hello-The really nice days are fading fast in my part of the world. Today was beautiful and I was fortunate to make it out to our state park to paint this scene. The recent hail storm was devasting to the soft pines exposing the trunks to disease and insects. For me it is a great painting opportunity as i am not a fan of painting trees in full bloom and full of leaves. I am hopeful the pines will pull through the winter and be in good health next spring.

I started this piece with a quick watercolor underpainting locating the darks and lights early in the process. The uart paper remains my surface of choice as it holds up well with a wet watercolor application. The light changes quickly this time of year so I worked rather quickly. The finished piece was completed in about 2.5 hrs. You may notice the focal area is the highlighted tree and is in the center of the painting. I noticed this in time to include the large tree to the right of the focal point . Now the focal area is spread to include the large tree.